1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a material exchange column with a packing. The invention also relates to a packing collar of a column of this kind and to a method for installing and/or transporting the column.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A material exchange column is known from EP-A 0 601 257, the packing of which is encircled at various heights in the manner of a belt by wreath elements. The wreath elements--here called collars for short--are manufactured of thin sheet metal lamina and serve for the deflection of the material flows in the column. On the one hand, a gas flow is prevented from flowing in a ring gap adjacent to the packing along the column wall. The gas is deflected into the packing, where it enters into contact with a liquid flowing on the packing. On the other hand, the liquid which enters onto the column wall from the packing is guided back into the packing by the collars.
The packings named in EP-A 0 601 257 are as a rule built up of a plurality of filler bodies. In a particularly advantageous embodiment, a filler body has layers of corrugated lamella with channels which cross one another in an open manner. The lamella are arranged in parallel and directed in direction of the column axis. For large column diameters, the individual filler bodies are assembled from a plurality of segments. Usually such packings are installed filler body by filler body into a vertically standing column; at the same time at least one collar is inserted with each filler body into the ring gap at the edge of the packing. During the installation of the packing, i.e. when it is being built into the column, the collars must be handled with care. Deformations must be avoided which would impair the deflection function of the collars.